The internet has spawned a large number of new enterprises and has provided an alternative media for existing businesses and organizations. Directing prospective customers to a web site and keeping them interested has become a unique advertising and marketing niche. Because there are most often a number of businesses competing for the same web traffic, methods have been developed to attempt to persuade the prospective customers to revisit the site once he or she has navigated away from the site or closed the browser window. For example, many sites invite and/or require prospective customers to fill out web forms to request additional information or to make a purchase. In most cases, the first required field is the prospective customer's email address. Therefore, if the prospective customer navigates away from the site or closes the browser window prior to completing the form, an email inviting the prospect back can be generated and sent. However, this is only effective if the prospect has at least started filling out a form.
To attempt to persuade a prospective customer to return to a site when the identity of the prospective customer is unknown, popup windows have been deployed. Popup windows are activated by an event that is generated by a browser application. Web browser applications generate event messages to enable web site developers to add sophistication to their web pages by triggering a script to perform a function when a particular event is encountered. However, while popup windows have proven to be effective from the merchant perspective, they can be an annoyance from the prospective customer's perspective. Therefore, developers have created blockers which detect a popup before it is visible to the user and then close the popup window. Because popup blockers are generally free to the public, popup ads have become far less effective.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for displaying information within a popup content area of a web page without launching a new window, thereby avoiding the effects of a popup suppression utility. Further, a need exists for a less intrusive means to display information while preserving the visual impact and attention-grabbing nature of popup windows.